February 27, 2004
Donald Savage
Headquarters, Washington
(Phone: 202/358-1727)
Carolina Martinez
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
(Phone: 818/354-9382)
Heidi Finn
Space Science Institute, Boulder, Colo.
(Phone: 720/974-5859)
RELEASE: 04-073
CASSINI CAPTURES STUNNING VIEW OF SATURN
Four months before its scheduled arrival at Saturn, the
Cassini-Huygens spacecraft sent its best color postcard back to Earth
of the ringed world. The spacecraft is expected to send weekly
postcards, as it gets closer to the ringed giant.
The view from Cassini shows Saturn growing larger and more defined as
the spacecraft nears a July 1, 2004, arrival date. On February 9,
Cassini's narrow angle camera, one of two cameras onboard the
spacecraft, took a series of exposures through different filters,
which were combined to form the color image released today.
"We very much want everyone to enjoy Cassini's tour of this
magnificent planetary system," said Dr. Carolyn Porco, leader of the
Cassini imaging science team at the Space Science Institute in
Boulder, Colo. "And I can say right now the views out the window will
be stunning," Porco said.
Cassini was 69.4 million kilometers (43.2 million miles) from Saturn
when the images were taken. The smallest features visible in the
image are approximately 540 kilometers (336 miles) across. Finer
details in the rings and atmosphere than previously seen are
beginning to emerge and will grow in sharpness and clarity over the
coming months. The thickness of the middle B ring of Saturn, and the
comparative translucence of the outer A ring, when seen against the
planet, as well as subtle color differences in the finely banded
Saturn atmosphere, are more apparent.
"I feel like a kid on a road trip at the beginning of our tour," said
Dr. Dennis Matson, project scientist for the Cassini-Huygens mission
to Saturn and its largest moon Titan. "We've been driving this car
for nearly 3.5 billion kilometers (2.2 billion miles) and it's time
to get off and explore this ringed world and its many moons. I can
hardly wait, but in the meantime, these weekly color images offer a
glimpse of our final destination," Matson said.
In the coming months, imaging highlights will include near daily,
multi-wavelength imaging of Saturn and its rings; imaging of Titan
beginning in April; Titan movie sequences starting in late May, when
the resolution exceeds that obtainable from Earth; and a flyby of
Saturn's distant moon, Phoebe, in June, at a spacecraft altitude of
2,000 kilometers (1,243 miles).
Through Cassini, about 260 scientists from 17 countries hope to gain a
better understanding of Saturn, its famous rings, its magnetosphere,
Titan, and its other icy moons. "Cassini is probably the most
ambitious exploration mission ever launched and is the fruit of an
active international collaboration," said Dr. Andre Brahic, imaging
team member and professor at Université Paris 7-Denis Diderot,
France. "It should be the prelude of our future, the exploration of
our surroundings by humanity," Brahic said.
Cassini will begin a four-year prime mission in orbit around Saturn
when it arrives July 1. It will release its piggybacked Huygens probe
about six months later for descent through Titan's thick atmosphere.
The probe could impact in what may be a liquid methane ocean.
JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena,
manages the mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington.
The Space Science Institute is a non-profit organization of
scientists and educators engaged in research in astrophysics,
planetary science, Earth sciences, and in integrating research with
education and public outreach. Cassini-Huygens is a cooperative
mission of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space
Agency
For the first image and other weekly images on the Internet each
Friday, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov
http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/imagegallery/index.html
http://ciclops.org
For information about Cassini-Huygens on the Internet, visit,
http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov
-end-